THE BUZZ: This morning Blizzard confirmed an early 2012 for Diablo III. In an official blog post, Mike Morhaime said the company was hoping to ship in 2011, but the game needs a little more time to gel.

Morhaime writes, “While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too. However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not. Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game.”

One positive piece of news, Blizzard will extend the beta period, and will invite some additional fans who registered but have not yet received a key.

EGM’s TAKE: Actually a little surprised with this one. We really thought Diablo III would make it out by the end of the year, and that Blizzard was just waiting for Blizzcon to announce it. Knowing the care it puts into its game though, we are willing to wait a couple more months.

Marc Camron is pleased to finally get a little bit of time to enjoy new games this holiday season, even if Batman: Arkham Knight isn't one of them. The rest of the time will be spent getting ready for CES in Vegas, starting on January 5th. At least it should be warmer there than in Colorado.